Cam-pains Monday brings Sen. Dawn Clark Netsch's...

October 30, 1989|By Kathy O`Malley & Hanke Gratteau.

Cam-pains

Monday brings Sen. Dawn Clark Netsch`s announcement as a Dem candidate for state comptroller, and we`re waiting to see whether her announcement contains a giant leap in logic or an intimate testimonial to Sen. Netsch`s personal growth. Back in 1970, when Netsch was a committee vice chairman to the state constitutional convention, she pushed hard to make the comptroller`s office an appointive post-not an elective one. To quote the Dawnster: the role of the comptroller`s office is ``a check-writing function`` that is ``largely a technical and largely even a mechanical function`` that ought to be performed by computers. And if Netsch starts talking about how she`ll be a watchdog of taxpayer money, someone should remind her of her strong belief in 1970 that

``It would not be appropriate to have an independently elected officer second-guessing all of the governor`s agencies. . . .``

Here come the judges

Election watchers are betting heavy that a record number of candidates will file for the 11 Circuit Court vacancies up in 1990. That`s because that election will be the last in which judges are elected countywide. By the 1992 elections, the county will be split into 15 districts, and so all sorts of judicial wanna-bes-like Dems from the suburbs or candidates on the Near North Side which is loaded with aspiring judges-will try to make the December filing date and get on the bench under the wire.

All Dem deals

Dick Phelan`s campaign for Cook County Board president gets a boost Monday (at the expense of Ald. David Orr, who`s been thinking of a bid) when Phelan announces that Marjorie Benton, a longtime Orr supporter, will serve as his finance chairperson.

Reel news

The City of Denver has this huge problem: the old 15th Street viaduct, an ancient relic that`s no longer usable but which is going to cost one big bundle of money to demolish. The solution? Well, if you`re a movie or TV production company, Denver says that if you want to film a real live bridge blowing up or falling down-and you`re willing to do it yourself-they`ll be happy to give you the bridge for nothing. . . . Jane Fonda`s ``Stanley and Iris`` seems to be suffering the same fate as Fonda`s ``Old Gringo``-changes, changes, changes and a rescheduled release. ``Stanley and Iris`` has now been moved from a December release to February.

Star tracks

Current status symbol in Hollywood is an invite to the ``invitation only``

memorial service Thursday for Bette Davis. . . . Australian actress Nicole Kidman (you may be one of the two dozen people who saw her in ``Dead Calm``)

just had to make a tough choice: She was offered a costarring role with Tom Berenger in ``Plastic Nightmare`` and the costarring role opposite Tom Cruise in ``Daytona.`` She picked Cruise. . . . Mickey Rooney, who has been involved in dozens of weird business ventures (remember circular hot dogs that would fit on hamburger buns?), now has organized ``Mickey Rooney`s Table Tennis Association``-with plans to ``build about 20 table tennis parlors in major markets with our own clothing line and food chain.`` . . . The release of a movie titled ``Animal Behavior`` is an obvious attempt to capitalize on the popularity of costar Holly Hunter; the movie has been around for about four years.

Just the fax

The fax has replaced the phone in another arena: the spreading of nasty political jokes which now can be told with visual aids. Dem machines on Capitol Hill were busy last week cranking out copies of the ``Official Report of the Vice President on the San Francisco Earthquake,`` which was of course, less than substantive. And the gag writers were less than creative, we might add.

Political shorts

Mel Torme was a surprise guest at a lunch last week for the Illinois delegation at the U.S. Capitol hosted by Rep. Cardiss Collins and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. . . . Fran McNaught returns to Washington Monday to resume her duties as Rep. Lynn Martin`s administrative assistant, leaving Mark Schroeder in charge of her Senate campaign duties.

INC.lings

Monday birthdays: Harry Hamlin, 38; Ed Lauter, 49; Louis Malle, 57; Grace Slick, 50; Henry Winkler, 44; Gus Savage, 64. . . . The benefit party for Wednesday`s premiere of ``Limit Up`` is being held before, rather than after, the movie-because so many of the guests are Mercantile Exchange, CBOT and CBOE traders who have to get up early the next day. . . . The Butterball Turkey Talk-Line (1-800-323-4848) begins operation Monday, kicking off its ninth season of dealing with an expected 200,000 turkey traumas.

. . . Congratulations to Lettuce Entertain You`s Megan Bueschel and Frank Conaty, married Sunday in a candlelight ceremony in Lettuce Entertain You`s Everest Room. . . . Washington`s Watergate Hotel has managed to cover the full range of culture with one give-a-away item in guest rooms: a green leather bookmark-stamped with the call letters and channels of all the local television stations.